White

In physics, white is the sum of all the colours. To the human eye, white appears to be the total absence of colour. Amongst artists, white and its many uses in art are continuously evolving and challenging those who would embrace them. Is white, then, a non-colour, or an enhancer of colours? Intangible or material? Absence or excess?

Since Antiquity, white has been appreciated for its symbolic value. In Ancient Greece, where they would paint their statues, it was a sign of incompletion, whereas the Romans believed it showed pomp and imperialist virtue. With the rise of Christianity, white was used in opposition to black in order to emphasise moral dichotomies: the pure, divine white against the darkness. In some cases, however, white was used to show sickness or death, most notably in the pallid representations of the skeletal, crucified Christ.

In the Renaissance white was used to sublimate faces and backgrounds. Da Vinci even based his sfumato technique on the soft transition from light into darkness. Throughout the history of painting, white was considered precious for its ability to reflect light. It attracts the gaze even when used in the tiniest quantities, and illuminates the subject, drawing out stunning contrasts as seen in the works of Rembrandt, or in Vermeer's famous Girl with the Pearl Earring.

With the rise of Impressionism, white was used as the brightest tone amongst shades of grey. While Manet produced canvases which were forerunners to monochromes, including The Reader, which was almost pure white, Monet delivered a stunning gradient of whites whilst recreating the snow at his home in Giverny. The first true white monochrome appeared with the arrival of Malevitch's White Square on a White Background. The artist said 'I have broken the blue boundary of colour limits, and come out into the white'.

Modernists were equally passionate about white and valued it incredibly highly. Miro in particular questioned the status of white on canvases. In his painting Woman, Bird and Star white is in parts boldly painted, but is also distinctive for its absence around the star. Picasso, on the other hand, explored white in conjunction with his famous coloured periods. Piero Manzoni became famous thanks to his 'achromatic' paintings, a series of canvases produced exclusively in shades of white. Moving into the 20th century, white became synonymous with minimalist abstraction. For artists like Kandinsky, white was a cosmic colour, associated with a spiritual search for the absolute, guiding the artists as he seek to express his emotions.

Today, white remains an ever popular subject. Roman Opalka made his name creating a series of white numbers of a white background, while Daniel Arsham reinvents white walls in galleries by letting his artwork drip down onto them. White is a colour with multiple symbolic interpretations. The colour of divinity or humility; of purity and immaculate, of emptiness and absence, but always colour. If blue has Klein and red has Rothko, it appears that no artist has yet succeeded in fully mastering white – but maybe you'll find them in our selection!

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From the series Infinite Flight 20 - monochrome gray, silber, white, black minimalism abstraction, expressionism dropping inspired by Jackson Pollock

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White

Heavenly Plants No.6

Exploflora Series No.69

Untitled No.104

Untitled No.102

Exploflora Series No.68

Dripology No.14

Journal d'un graveur 3

Irises

Sun 8

Fading Grace

Black Circle

Gertrude Stein

The Whisper of Lines

The Aria of Silence — a tribute to Maria Callas

Lace of Silent Stories

Silent Geometry

Traces

Plato

European Snow II

European Snow I

Untitled Triptych. From the series Partituras

Whispers of Morning Roses - colorful floral painting on linen

Fantasia

The colors of happiness

Red dots

All these things in my head

Donald Duck x Loves PopArt?!

March for love (Silver)

Butterfly Park 10

VI p.m. Horses series

Multiple #4 Vibracion Roja

The Feeling of Being Nervous

Ballerinas

Night coolness

Elegant White Rabbit

Doodle Baby

From the series Infinite Flight 20 - monochrome gray, silber, white, black minimalism abstraction, expressionism dropping inspired by Jackson Pollock

“Banksy style – Balloon girl” skateboard

Songs of freedom

Desert signe LIII (SG244)

Diàleg

Watch Gears

Green 09

Nature morte

Antypo

Unchartered Waters of Love

Silence désertique

Self-Portrait 24.161

Flower Cat

Poolside Ladies

Paysage urbain #2

Follow the path

Smell after the rain

Unknown future

Nocturnal Erosion

Sound of silence

Silent sea

Beyond the sea

Gift from the sky

A Quiet Time 1.

Good by my love

Wild Kong Oil

Tetris

Place Within Reach 25.

Place Within Reach 24

Winged wonder Hermes god sculpture